Nursing Homes Group Wants Mass Testing In Long-Term Care Facilities

Mass testing in three Ohio prisons has turned up 3,853 coronavirus cases among inmates and 379 prison workers, showing how fast the virus can spread in congregate settings. Now the state’s long term care providers are hoping for the same thing in more than a thousand nursing homes, assisted living communities and other facilities.

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The state tested nearly 5,400 inmates at the Marion and Pickaway Correctional Institutions and the Franklin Medical Center, because of concerns of how fast it was spreading. All deaths in the Ohio prison system so far have been at those three facilties. Sixteen inmates and 1 prison worker have died.

Pete Van Runkle with the Ohio Health Care Association says operators of long term care facilities understand why the mass testing was done at those institutions.

“It’s clearly appropriate and necessary. Their concern just is, we’ve now used a couple thousand tests that supposedly were so scarce," Van Runkle said. "And we’ve got a bunch of folks who are in these congregate settings for the elderly and disabled and they’re not getting it.”

The state has set up a section of its coronavirus website for tracking of COVID-19 cases by long-term care facility. The list hasn't been updated since April 23, when 1,199 residents and 477 staffers statewide were reported to have tested positive. The state has said data on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes will be posted this week, but by county, not by facility.

Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton has said with limited tests available, testing will be prioritized by tiers, with people with symptoms who are hospitalized or are health care workers considered Priority 1.

"We see a few cases in a nursing home, we test as many as we can. We test some staff and then we say 'it's there' and treat it as such, you almost have to treat it as if everyone has it," said Acton at the daily briefing on Tuesday.

Millions of Ohioans are staying home as ordered, as schools have closed, employers have ordered them to work remotely and entertainment options have been shut down. And hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs as businesses shuttered – perhaps temporarily or maybe permanently. All of these sudden changes are having an impact on Ohioans who are now living very different lives than just a few weeks ago.